MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Zarathustra · 01-01-2011, 05:07 PM

PB 903 for scientific reading & bugs

I now have the PB 903 for some days. So, I want to share my experiences:

But first, I will start with my expectations:
1. I am a scientist. I have a large collection of PDF articles (> 2000) which I need for my daily work. They are sorted and categorized in a large database (JabRef). So, I want to make notes onto them and have them easily accessible.

2. I have to travel a lot. So, I am always running into trouble with subscriptions of newspapers etc because I am always at the wrong place.

3. Don´t blame me, but even if I am not travelling or not working, I still love to read books. Currently, I pack my stuff to settle over to asia and I have this huge pile of books. Shall I throw them away ? - or take them as EBooks with me ?

My Review / First impression:

First of all, the PB 903 leaves a solid impression on me. It sits well in my hands, it reacts appropriatly. The display is sharp and the contrast fine. The time to load a pdf is sufficiently low - in some cases it might take longer if you zoom in (I think eveyrthing has to be recalculated).

(Book) I did not test it so much as it is not the first priority.

(Minus - Book - PDF - Dictionary) But of course, I tested some of the functionality. The operation of the dictionary is simple. But I face a systematic system error / crash in the following case.
1. Open a book pdf.
2. Activate dictionary (select a word etc.)
3. Leave dictionary active
4. Go to the next page.
After this procedure, the PB 903 will hang and you will have to switch off and on again.

(Newspapers)
So, I downloaded some samples of newspapers. I am a bit dissapointed. Many newspapers do not offer sample issues (so I got a one page extract from the "Die Zeit" on request by email, a full version of the "Rheinische Post" can be found on their web page).

First impression, everything is rather small, which is not a big surprise as the format of typical newspapers is rather large. Therefore, lets try zooming and reflow.

(Newspaper - Reflow)
Reflow, basically failed to give a readable version. I have no previous experience, so I will not blame anybody. I can certainly imagine that a reflow for a 4-column newspapers with not very well defined edges can be rather tricky.

(Newspaper - Zooming)
Zooming principally works. The text is respectively scaled and by using the left / right buttons you are able to read the articles. But you will also face some problems.

(Minus - Zooming - Left/right)
The first malfunctioning of the software can be observed in the following way:
1. Take a PDF of a large sized newspaper
2. Take zoomfactor 120 - 170 per cent
You will now realize, that the left and right sides are not accessible.
The text becomes reaccessible, if you increase the zoom factor to 200 per cent.

(Minus - Zooming - Movement)
What is really annoying is when you try to read an article which is in the middle of the page. Let us take the following example:

a a a a
a b b a
a b b a
a a a a

Thereby, b denotes the area which you want to read, and a are other columns. Obviously, you would like to zoom in such that you get

b b
b b

First of all, you move the visual area from left to right. because you cannot say directly the PB where you want to go - you have to do it in many small steps. In the end, you will get the following result:

a a
b b

Different to the left right movement the top - bottom movement is done in a single step. So you have to jump back and forth between

a a and b b
b b and a a

Conclusion, I would wish that you could define with the pen the area to zoom in.

(Scientific journals - PDF)

Typically, scientific journals are in A4 or in the american format. But anyhow, opening such an article will give you something which you can nicely read. Problematic are only the images. Instead of employing the pen, you have to use many steps to zoom in into a specific region.

(Minus - scientific journals - PDF - annotations)

As mentioned already in other articles, annotations are de facto not supported. This, I find personally very dissapointing.

In summary: The pen functionality is only supported in a way to replace the buttons. The potential of the pen is even not touched.

.................

Other aspects:

The PB 903 offers additional applications. Well, again, they are not my focus, I still played around with them.

(calendar) It is basically a calendar. I hope, it will be extended to something which can be used as a schedule, i.e. leave notes in it, etc., and update with the PC. Should not be too tough to program.

(scribler) Well, very poor.
=> should be extended to something real.

---------------------

summary:

The PB 903 has a large potential when the software is improved. But the competition with screen netbooks (like iPad) started. If they do not hurry up (I would say less than 6 months) they will run into the same trouble as Irex. If they manage to improve on the software, well, it will become a nice niche product.

01-01-2011, 05:07 PM	#1
Zarathustra Member Posts: 17 Karma: 38 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Germany / Taiwan Device: PB 903	PB 903 for scientific reading & bugs PB 903 for scientific reading & bugs I now have the PB 903 for some days. So, I want to share my experiences: But first, I will start with my expectations: 1. I am a scientist. I have a large collection of PDF articles (> 2000) which I need for my daily work. They are sorted and categorized in a large database (JabRef). So, I want to make notes onto them and have them easily accessible. 2. I have to travel a lot. So, I am always running into trouble with subscriptions of newspapers etc because I am always at the wrong place. 3. Don´t blame me, but even if I am not travelling or not working, I still love to read books. Currently, I pack my stuff to settle over to asia and I have this huge pile of books. Shall I throw them away ? - or take them as EBooks with me ? My Review / First impression: First of all, the PB 903 leaves a solid impression on me. It sits well in my hands, it reacts appropriatly. The display is sharp and the contrast fine. The time to load a pdf is sufficiently low - in some cases it might take longer if you zoom in (I think eveyrthing has to be recalculated). (Book) I did not test it so much as it is not the first priority. (Minus - Book - PDF - Dictionary) But of course, I tested some of the functionality. The operation of the dictionary is simple. But I face a systematic system error / crash in the following case. 1. Open a book pdf. 2. Activate dictionary (select a word etc.) 3. Leave dictionary active 4. Go to the next page. After this procedure, the PB 903 will hang and you will have to switch off and on again. (Newspapers) So, I downloaded some samples of newspapers. I am a bit dissapointed. Many newspapers do not offer sample issues (so I got a one page extract from the "Die Zeit" on request by email, a full version of the "Rheinische Post" can be found on their web page). First impression, everything is rather small, which is not a big surprise as the format of typical newspapers is rather large. Therefore, lets try zooming and reflow. (Newspaper - Reflow) Reflow, basically failed to give a readable version. I have no previous experience, so I will not blame anybody. I can certainly imagine that a reflow for a 4-column newspapers with not very well defined edges can be rather tricky. (Newspaper - Zooming) Zooming principally works. The text is respectively scaled and by using the left / right buttons you are able to read the articles. But you will also face some problems. (Minus - Zooming - Left/right) The first malfunctioning of the software can be observed in the following way: 1. Take a PDF of a large sized newspaper 2. Take zoomfactor 120 - 170 per cent You will now realize, that the left and right sides are not accessible. The text becomes reaccessible, if you increase the zoom factor to 200 per cent. (Minus - Zooming - Movement) What is really annoying is when you try to read an article which is in the middle of the page. Let us take the following example: a a a a a b b a a b b a a a a a Thereby, b denotes the area which you want to read, and a are other columns. Obviously, you would like to zoom in such that you get b b b b First of all, you move the visual area from left to right. because you cannot say directly the PB where you want to go - you have to do it in many small steps. In the end, you will get the following result: a a b b Different to the left right movement the top - bottom movement is done in a single step. So you have to jump back and forth between a a and b b b b and a a Conclusion, I would wish that you could define with the pen the area to zoom in. (Scientific journals - PDF) Typically, scientific journals are in A4 or in the american format. But anyhow, opening such an article will give you something which you can nicely read. Problematic are only the images. Instead of employing the pen, you have to use many steps to zoom in into a specific region. (Minus - scientific journals - PDF - annotations) As mentioned already in other articles, annotations are de facto not supported. This, I find personally very dissapointing. In summary: The pen functionality is only supported in a way to replace the buttons. The potential of the pen is even not touched. ................. Other aspects: The PB 903 offers additional applications. Well, again, they are not my focus, I still played around with them. (calendar) It is basically a calendar. I hope, it will be extended to something which can be used as a schedule, i.e. leave notes in it, etc., and update with the PC. Should not be too tough to program. (scribler) Well, very poor. => should be extended to something real. --------------------- summary: The PB 903 has a large potential when the software is improved. But the competition with screen netbooks (like iPad) started. If they do not hurry up (I would say less than 6 months) they will run into the same trouble as Irex. If they manage to improve on the software, well, it will become a nice niche product.